


The Capitol

by Graceyff, HappilyEverlarker (Graceyff)



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, The Island (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Clones, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-22
Updated: 2015-08-09
Packaged: 2018-02-26 15:02:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 15,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2656364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Graceyff/pseuds/Graceyff, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Graceyff/pseuds/HappilyEverlarker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Life can't really get much better for Mellark 7 Alpha. He's been saved from an apocalypse and is being kept healthy and tutored for a chance to win the ultimate prize, but when snooping around through the compound one night, he stumbles across a horrific revelation that defies all that he has known.  Now the only question is will he be alive long enough to help his friends escape their doom?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer - I own nothing from The Hunger Games world or from The Island world and this is just me experimenting with writing.

_**Mellark 7 Alpha** _

Making bread has always seemed to be able to relax me. The monotonous push, pull of the kneading and the final outcome of a fresh, warm, soft loaf gives a satisfaction, which expels all the tension in my mind and body. The kitchen where I am working isn't terribly big, but it is long and narrow and just enough for what I am doing at the moment. 

A noise somewhere to my right catches my attention and I halt my actions, listening in anticipation for more to come, but nothing happens, except the exhale and inhale of my own breath. I know I'm here along and yet I also know that there is someone else nearby. Debating wether or not I should investigate I turn back to find that the dough I was working on is ready to be put in the oven. Strange. I don't remember doing all that work and I had only just started kneading. There was at least a good ten minutes before it would have been ready to bake. Regardless of my confusion I continue with the familiar routine and set the tray into the slot in the oven and proceed to the door out of the room.

There are a set of stairs on the other side leading up to sunlight. I follow them and am momentarily blinded by the brightness, but when my eyes have adjusted to the rays, I look around at my surroundings.

It is such a vivid view that I have to stop and admire the scene in front of me. The sky and sea are so blue that I don't think I have ever seen anything like it before. Behind me I can see that I am on a yacht with high, pristine sails, blowing calmly in the breeze and the heat of the sun on my back is glorious. Another noise behind me reminds me of why I came up here, but when I turn there is nothing and no one about. I do a complete circle and nothing draws my attention. Maybe it was just the water lapping against the side of the boat. 

_'I need to get some sleep,'_ I think to myself before returning to the galley to clean the bowls and put away the flour and sugar. 

Retracing my steps down the stairs I can smell burning. The bread is black at one end when I pull it from the oven.

 _'You worthless, stupid boy. Go feed it to the pigs.'_ A woman's voice taunts me. Where did that come from? A recollection that time has forgotten. I can feel myself almost flinch when I think about the whack to the ear that should accompany the memory, and then another of a girl too weak to stand, crying in the rain, beneath an apple tree.

Arms suddenly grab me from all angles, dragging me back to the bed that has appeared in the room. Struggling against them only proves to tighten their grip and pull me faster. I don't want to go. I want to stay and try to remember who the girl is. Something is pulling me towards her, but I can't see her face. The arms continue to drag me down and hold me to the bed. I feel rather than see the covers being brought back over my body. This can't be happening. I want to see this girl. I want to find out who she is and what she means to me. Then everything goes black.

Gasping, I sit up in my bed and throw off the grey, cold covers and pull as much air into my lungs as I can in an attempt to settle my breathing and heartbeat. It was only a dream, but no, I can't really say that. It wasn't _only_ a dream. It was the same dream I have been having for a while now. A few of the details change, but the same thing happens. I remember the girl and the bread, but I can't see her face and then I get dragged back to reality.

Finally getting myself settled, and resigning to the fact that I will probably never get to the bottom of my dream mystery, I get out of bed and begin my morning preparations for the day.

My room is the same as everyone else's. A bland grey that gives no illusion of warmth or personality. I stand in front of the mirror and take the pin out of the armband on my wrist and insert it into the slot on the side panel of the reflective surface. The armband has a screen on it that tells me what my timetable is for the day, but it also has sensors under it to measure my blood pressure and that sort of thing. After all we have to keep healthy in the facility. I mean they were kind enough to find us and help us back to health.

It all started with a war of some kind and a device was set off on the surface. Something went wrong and most of the people in the world were killed or died from gruesome sores and welts, but those that survived were 'mentally disorientated'.

We were found and brought here, to District 13. The last safe place on earth, to be rehabilitated and helped to get back to a normal life. Well as normal as can be for living under strict rules and timetables. The whole place is grey concrete and slabs and the only saving grace are the massive windows around the circular structures, that show us the world outside. Apparently when the device activated, there was a seismic shift in the plates of the earth and most of the world was flooded, with only a few of the highest regions now becoming tropical islands, only one of which is habitable.

The Capitol. 

I'm brought back to my room when the mirror in front of me beeps. The pin that I took from the armband, takes a pinprick of blood every morning, to make sure I am healthy and don't have any infections or viruses. It also counts my sugar level and other such details that I can't completely comprehend. When I look at the mirror, the top also has a screen, which gives me a read out of what is going on in my body. The screening only takes a few seconds in which I can see that I am in perfect health, except that my sodium level is higher than it should be. It then tells me that my diet has been adjusted accordingly and to have a nice day.

 _'Oh great.'_ I think. What am I going to lose from my meals today?

I turn to the drawers which are hidden in the walls and slide my wristband over the sensor. They glide out with a slight hiss of air and I begin to get dressed. I'm missing a shoe and so I look to the camera in the room and tell whoever it is that is watching. It is a little unnerving that I am watched everyday, every minute in the facility, but you begin to get used to it after a while, and sometimes it can have its benefits.

I am about to head out to breakfast when another beep sounds from the wristband and alerts me that my timetable has changed. I have a meeting at 10.00 am, one hour from now.

With Dr. Coin.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Mellark 7 Alpha** _

There was very little difference between the communal areas and the gender sections in District 13, other than members of the opposite gender milling around. The walk down to the nutrition plaza had the same everyday greetings to fellow members of the quadrant and there was nothing out of the ordinary. Skipping ahead of one of the men and into the elevator, Mellark nudged in beside a couple of people he had gotten to know a little better. 

There were so many people in the facility, that knowing only a handful was even a hard task to master and with them still finding survivors the amount of people just kept growing. It made him wonder sometimes if they would ever run out of room. 

As they travelled down in the lift the back wall which was usually a window onto the vast chasm, with the nutrition plaza below, turned into a screen which projected a visual bulletin.

During the previous evening, when it was not mandatory viewing, the reaping had run and this was an update for those who hadn't heard the news.

The reaping was the lottery that ran to choose the people who were next to go to the Capitol. Apparently everyone would win sooner or later. The newer subjects in the community looked on it with glee and excitement, where as the residents that had been in the district longer had started to find it slightly boring. They felt that the odds of ever getting to the Capitol were not in their favour.

A blond woman appears on the screen. This is Effie Trinket who announces every reaping and is always dressed in a suit just like the residents, but bright pink. Her voice is so happy and proper that it is really quite hard to ignore her.

"Good morning. It's a big, big, big, day. Thresh 3 Bravo, your time has come. You're moving out to the Capitol."

The video then changes to show a large, hulking man grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"Thresh 3 Bravo here and I am just so ecstatically happy. I get to go to the Capitol. Get to breath fresh air and swim in the ocean. Ooh this is so amazing. You know me I'm not usually like this, but I won. I need to see you guys there too though, and if I can win so can you. I mean I won. Just six months here and I won. Wuuhoo. I'm just so happy"

Mellark is watching the screen with a bored expression, when one of the men closer to the wall who was standing with his arms across his chest, slams the side of his fist against the screen, momentarily upsetting the video feed. Hawthorne 5 Alpha, looks around at the other people in the confined space and starts his tirade.

"What?" He asks accusingly. "Six months. Can you believe that?" He motions to a shorter man to one side of him. "How long have you been here?" 

"Three years." Comes the reply.

"Three. What about you?" He asks Mellark.

"Four"

"Four. I've been here seven, so I guess that means I am the unluckiest person in here." Hawthorne replies with some contempt in his voice.

The screen has returned to normal now and as the elevator finishes it's descent, Effie Trinket can be heard giving her sign off.

"Remember there will be another reaping tonight, so you can have your chance to go to the Capitol, the earth's last pathogen free zone. May the odds be ever in you favour!"

The doors of the lift open and the men begin to move on to get their breakfast, but can't go far when they see two peacekeepers standing, in their black suits, at the doorway. They look to the back of the crowd and as each of the men turn to look at Hawthorne, he also turns to look behind him. Realising that he can't get away with the deferment tactic, he begins to look a little sheepish at the memory of his earlier outburst.

One of the peacekeepers beacons him forward with a gloved hand and holds up a Holo for Hawthorne to scan his wristband over. The Holo is a device which every peacekeeper carries and alerts them to disturbances or rule breaking and also gives them all the details they need for each individual in the facility.

"Hawthorne 5 Alpha, we received a report of a disturbance."

"Yes sir. I'm sorry about that sir. Just got a little frustrated sir." Hawthorne replies with slight embarrassment.

"Safe to say then that the situation is now under control?" Asks the other peacekeeper.

"Yes sir."

"Well you go on ahead now and have a nice day."

"Yes sir. Have a nice day sir. And you sir. Both of you sir. Goodbye." Hawthorne answers quickly in an attempt to cover the situation and his embarrassment. He power walks away to get in line for his food and the others follow on behind him.

Making his way down the steps to the queue for the serving area, Mellark scans the sight before him. The nutrition plaza is a large open area in the centre of the facility tower and is flooded with light from the large windows behind the servers. The view out these windows is different to the one in his bedroom. These windows are looking out to a beautiful mountainous island. The Capitol. It looks wonderful, with sky and sea a vivid cerulean blue and the hills and valleys are covered in lush green foliage, that you cannot mistake for anything other than paradise. He lowers his eyes to look down the steps to the seating section below and begins to make his way to the servers for his breakfast. 

A dark brown head with a braid to the side comes into view, and as a moth to the flame, Mellark's attention is drawn to her. She is standing in the women's line waiting to be served and talking to the woman next to her, when she looks over and makes eye contact with him. His blue eyes meet her grey and lock for a moment, almost as if they are daring the other to turn away first. The eyes and braid belong to Everdeen and Mellark has been captivated by her since he first saw her two years previous. Then one day they were scheduled for a class together and have been friends ever since.

The queues move forward and both Mellark and Everdeen glance ahead to come to the serving stations. Mellark arrives first and scans his wristband over the censor.

"Ok Mellark 7 Alpha, your choices today are fruit, oatmeal and any type of bran." The server offers.

She is an ageing woman called Sae, probably in her sixties, with greying hair and a look that tells you she won't take any nonsense.

Mellark was waiting for this since his screening earlier. "No bacon?" He asks.

"No you have a nutrition flag which means no bacon." Sae states.

Trying to use his natural charm to win her over he says "In that case I'll take two eggs, over easy, not too runny and a side of sausages. Maybe a cheese bun and some hot chocolate with cream and the little marshmallows on top."

Sae just looks at him with slight bemusement. "I've got no time for your lip today son, so what'll it be?"

Frustrated and slightly disappointed Mellark sighs. "Surprise me". He says.

Sae takes the tray and using the hose dollops a large plop of oatmeal into the bowl section. She sets it down in front of Mellark.

"Surprise" she's says and shouts for the next person to come to get served.

Walking away Mellark looks down at what he can only describe as slop and begins to head to the tables, when he feels a tap on his shoulder. Turning around he is met again with the grey eyes of Everdeen, a knowing smirk on her face.

"Lost your charm today Mellark?" She asks with a smile.

"No, no" he replies nonchalantly. "I'm actually trying a new health routine, to help keep my figure." He says in a serious tone, but one look at Everdeen's smiling face, and he can't keep in his laughter either. "I've been flagged and the unfeeling, stone faced, statue wouldn't budge!" He tells her.

"Watch and learn." She answers and with a twist of her head, she turns on her heel and walks back to the queue, where the woman from before had been keeping her place. She arrives back in time for her to go next and when she sees Sae she greets her as an old friend.

"Everdeen 4 Lima. Hi Honey"

"Hi"

"Your choices are powdered eggs, dried fruit and yoghurt."

"Eggs please" Everdeen replies, then, with a quick sideways glance to Mellark, she begins to _'teach'_.

"So where we're you the other day? We missed you." 

"Aww, that's so sweet of you to say, Honey"

Sae then takes a sneaky look, right and left, behind the other servers to see if there are any peacekeepers about and leans over to Everdeen to loudly whisper.

"Get ya anything else? Maybe a little bacon?"

"Nah, it says I shouldn't."

"Oh go on."

"Ok four, _five_ , please."

Sae places five rashers of bacon onto the tray and lifts it over to Everdeen.

"Thank you." Everdeen says and with a knowing smile and her head tilted to the side, walks over to Mellark.

"You're welcome!" She says as she comes back to where he was waiting.

"Well I still think I softened her up for you." Comes Mellark's reply.

"You better eat up. You're gonna need all your strength for tonight!" Everdeen says reminding him that they are meeting for a match tonight. It's about the only thing in the facility that Mellark really likes. 

Every evening there is a time of reflection, which can be used to meet with friends and chat, take some extra time at the gym or swimming pool or use a simulator for any type of spot that they don't have the room for in the district.

"Is that a challenge?" He asks.

"Don't worry I'll go easy on you."

Last week Everdeen had completely outclassed him with her aim on the archery range simulator, and Mellark had said that he would get her back. When she asked what he wanted to do, wrestling popped into his mind, even though he couldn't think why. He had never done anything like that before, but as he thought about it, he had been doing pretty good at the weights in the gym lately so he thought, why not.

As they had been talking they had been shuffling closer together, little by little and totally oblivious to the other. A peacekeeper came towards them.

"Please separate. Find your seats."

"Yeah." "Ok." Come their responses and they headed off to find their designated seats, with the promise of entertainment later.

After Mellark finishes his breakfast, he makes his way up to Dr. Coin's office. 

Along the way he passes all different kinds of workers and areas. There are several groups of people sitting in different rooms which have glass walls separating them from the next group. These are where the classes are held and as he walks past he can hear scientific terms and mathematical equations mixed with historic facts and poetic prose drifting into the hallway. He crosses over the gantry which looks down over the swimming pool and the gym and passes rows and isles of administrative offices. He makes a left turn and nearly runs into a snowy, haired older man coming in the opposite direction.

"What have you done wrong this time, Tough Guy?" He asks Mellark as he leaves the reception area. Mellark looks back over his shoulder at him, with his eyebrows furrowed and a questioning look on his face. If the man hadn't been walking so fast he would've shouted after him to explain himself, but at that moment the secretary caught his attention instead.

"Dr. Coin will see you now." She said and lifting her arm with her hand facing upwards pointed the way into the doctors suite.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and please leave comments as this is my first endeavor at writing a story.
> 
> You can follow me on tumblr at ffeverlarkfeels. I may not post too much on it sometimes, but I do put a few things up from time to time and I also post when I update a new chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is an area in this chapter that some people may find disturbing so read with care, but I can't really leave too much out or it won't help the story.

_**Mellark 7 Alpha** _

Walking into Dr. Coin's suite is always slightly nerve wracking. There's something about her that just doesn't sit well with me and I haven't figured it out yet. She tries to blend in by wearing the same grey jumpsuit, but it has a red stripe down the sleeve. She also tries to talk with us as if we are all friends, but it seems as if she is holding something back, something that only she knows, and it concerns everyone here. 

She is an imposing woman, quite tall and grey hair that hardly ever moves from the way she has it styled. She is standing over her interactive desk, reviewing notes and as I get closer I see Everdeen's picture at the top of the report. 

"Ma'am?" I ask.

She quickly looks up and twisting a device that looks like a transparent pyramid, she moves it across the tabletop screen, to the left side, and it minimises everything into a small square in the corner furthest from me. 

"You wanted to see me?"

"Yes. Please, sit down."

I take the seat in front of the table, bringing the ankle of my right leg over my left knee to get comfortable and also to try to show that I have a slight air of confidence, and wait for her to start. I know there are some things that I shouldn't have done in the facility, but I don't know wether she knows or not and I have been preparing all morning to be able to explain myself.

"So. How is Mellark 7 Alpha today?"

"Not so good, I guess". I reply

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, if I'm here, it means I'm not so good." I say trying to find out the reason I'm here. If I pretend I'm not feeling good, it might make her explain a little more to me, but it has never really worked before, and I doubt it'll work now.

"That's a rather negative association."

Nope, didn't work.

"My only job is to see that you're happy and that things are ok with you." She says

"Right." I still think she's hiding something.

She regards me for a few seconds before pulling up what can only be my details, on the tabletop screen.

"Your file shows that you've been interacting regularly with Everdeen 4 Lima."

"There's no law against friendship." I reply in a defensive tone.

"No, no, we encourage it, but, obviously, proximity could become a concern."

"I know the rules of proximity."

Again she regards me for a moment before continuing.

"You've been doing quite well in most other areas. Proficient at work, exercising regularly, but screening has picked up some trace levels, changes in your metabolism, and you've been having nightmares?" She ends with a question.

"Are you saying there's something wrong with me?" I ask. I'm actually starting to get worried.

"Why don't you tell me about your dream?"

I sigh _Oh, here we go. There is no way I'm telling her all of the dream._.

"Well it's the same dream every time. I'm on a boat, headed to the Capitol."

"A boat? What kind of boat?"

"A _nice_ boat!" Really what sort of question is that.

She moves the clear pyramid device again and brings up a white rectangle in front of me on the screen. Then slides a thin, black, pen like object towards me.

"Draw it for me would you?"

I begin to draw the yacht. I seem to be able to draw it almost perfectly on the screen. In fact so well that if you reached for it, you would think you could actually touch the real thing. As I continue with the drawing Dr. Coin resumes asking me questions.

"So, you are heading to the Capitol. What happens then?"

"I drown, or suffocate."

"Really? Why do you think that is?"

"I don't know. You tell me."

"Maybe you're afraid of winning."

 _What?_ I have to think about it for a moment, but that feeling of something being hidden comes to me again.

"Why would I be afraid?"

"You tell me. What's troubling you Mellark?"

"Well it's... It's just..." Pausing, I gather my thoughts and take a deep breath before releasing it, uncrossing my legs and sitting forward in my seat over the table, I begin to explain my thoughts.

"All right. Tuesday night is lamb stew night, and I'm asking myself, who decided that everyone here likes lamb stew with rice and plums. And why can't I have any bacon? I line up, every morning, and I'm not allowed bacon for my breakfast. And... Let's talk about all the grey. Why is everyone wearing grey all the time? It's boring and we never get a colour stripe on the sleeve, and I hand it in to be cleaned, and someone cleans it and folds it and puts it back in the drawer, but who? Who is that person?"

I take another breath after my rant.

"I don't know. I just... I wanna know answers. And I wish there was _more_!"

"More?"

"Yeah. More than just waiting to go to the Capitol."

"Mellark, its in your nature to question things." Coin says. "But do you know how lucky you are? That you survived the contamination. That nature has left you an island of paradise to repopulate. That Mellark, that is your purpose."

"Right." I answer, unconvinced. "And you? Aren't you going to the Capitol?"

"No. My responsibility is to make sure the District continues to operate. That's why people like me, my staff and supervisors, we, we can't win the reaping."

She pauses with a look of slight sorrow on her face, but it doesn't seem totally genuine.

"Let me see that." She says, as she pulls the almost finished drawing, which was forgotten whilst I made my speech, to her side of the tabletop screen. 

"You draw well" she says in surprise. " _Mockingjay_? What's that?"

"I don't know. It's always in my dream."

Dr. Coin sits and contemplates the drawing for a few moments, but it feels like hours, waiting on her verdict. This has not really gone like I thought it would at all. Finally she takes a breath and continues.

"I'd like to run some tests on you Mellark."

 _Great._ "What sort of tests?"

She smiles, but the grimace that comes to her face is not reassuring. "Nice tests. Come with me."

She gets up and moves to a separate area to the right of her room, which has a screen keeping it hidden from the office area. As I follow her around the partition, I see a chair that keeps the occupant laid back, and a table to the side has medical instruments set out in a very orderly fashion.

"Take a seat," she says, "let's get you comfortable."

As I get up onto the seat and settle back into the foam padding of the chair, she buckles leather straps over my ankles and wrists. My eyes widen when I can't move.

"I thought these were nice tests?" I question, my voice suddenly seeming to go up an octave. I knew that look on her face was too good to be true.

"It's a synaptic brain scan." She replies as she braces my face in a contraption to keep it still. "Totally harmless." She continues and then brings a tool to my eye that forces my lids to stay open, no matter how much I try to blink. She turns behind her again and takes another object that looks like the pen stylus I used to draw the yacht, but this one is hollow at one end and follows a tube up into the other end.

"Don't worry, it's painless."

I really don't believe her this times and as I struggle slightly in the restraints she lowers the object to my eye and as I can't close it I am left to view everything that is happening.

Little tiny mechanical orbs, sprout legs and travel along the tube and begin to lift my eyelids.

"It hurts!" I yell. I can feel them moving under and around my eyeball and then in towards the back and towards my brain.

"Not really". She says. Is she really trying to say this isn't torture!

"Yeah it does!" 

"No, it doesn't" _Oh I wish you would just shut up!_ I think.

"Yeah it really, really does!" I'm almost screaming now.

"The micro tracker jackers will move along you optic nerve and into you're brain They'll be uploading readings to us over the next 24 hours, after which, you will pass them through your urine. New that...might hurt." She says with a cold, malice smile.

She leaves after she loosens the restraints and I am left with a note for my work detailing why I am late. The pain is still strong even after the tracker jackers have left my eye. As I walk a rub at my eye trying to relieve some of the tension and discomfort, but it doesn't help much. I can't believe I still have to work after this.

As I make my way through the facility to the rooms that I am assigned my work in, I try to formulate a plan. I really feel like I could do with some time off, even if it's only half an hour.

I arrive at my work room and am greeted by a censor. They are the people that oversee our work and train us when we first begin.

"7 Alpha, your late." I don't even say anything as I hand him the note and head towards my desk section. As I go I look over to the glass separated, box area in the corner. It is where the nutrients and chemicals are mixed and kept, before being distributed to the rest of the workers in the room. It is also where Everdeen works and most of the other women. She sees me as I continue to move through the room and waves, with a beautiful, bright smile. I wave back and think about our match later tonight. I can't wait to beat her at wrestling. It should be fun. As I get my uniform of a grey overcoat and gloves on and then pick up the tray of nutrients and the insertion gun, I make it back to my seat and begin to work.

It is boring and monotonous. I pick up a bottle and place it into the holder at the back of the gun, then proceed to inject the set amount of liquid into the pods that lead to the nutrition lines that travel along the desk. The man to my right is a good friend and has been here about six months longer than me.

"Beetee?" I ask him, "you ever get bored doing this?"

"Doing what?"

"This,". I motion with my hands to the room in general.

"Hm!" He hums, "I never really thought about it."

"I think about it a lot."

"About what?"  
"This boring job. I mean, what are we doing here?"

"We're feeding the nutrient lines. We eat food, food's gotta have vitamins, right? It's good for us."

I look at him. "You don't ever wonder about anything? Where do these tubes go?"

He looks at me confused. He then points to the left of the table where the tubes come out of one hub. "They start there," he follows them across the table, past the pods, to the hub at the other end of the table, where the tubes then disappear, "and they go...right there."

Mellark sighs, realising that he's getting nowhere with this. Hawthorne then approaches from his table with his tray of empty bottles.

"Hey. Did you get a look at the new guy?" They turn to look at the table were a man and a censor are working together. Well the censor is working, training the man. 

"7 Foxtrot." Hawthorne says.

"They found another survivor?" Asks Mellark. "They keep finding them."

"He'll probably win the lottery tonight." Replies Hawthorne with distain.

As they continue to watch the survivor being trained, Mellark watches as the censor tells him how to work the insertion gun. Being _'mentally disorientated'_ , the survivor is not really ready to work yet. He looks dazed and drunk and keeps finding something else around the table to interest him. Everything, it seems, than what the censor what's him to look at and concentrate on.

"Did we all look that stupid when we went through decontamination?" He asks.

With one last look at the new guy they return to their work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's not a great place to end, but it's a hard scene to stop and I didn't really have anymore time to write for this chapter so it seemed like the best place for now.
> 
> Hope you liked it. Please leave a comment either way.
> 
> I'm also on tumblr at ffeverlarkfeels. Come say hi.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: this is a work of fanfiction and I do not own anything in either The Hunger Games or The Island.
> 
> I just wanted to let you know the format of this story. Most of the chapters will be in Mellark's pov, but some will be in the other characters. Not many though, and at the moment the next chapter will be in both Mellark's and Mitch's pov, but I haven't sorted it out completely yet.
> 
> Anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter and please leave a comment at the end either way. Also you can come follow me on tumblr at ffeverlarkfeels.
> 
> Thanks for reading :-)

_**Mellark 7 Alpha** _

"Hey, Mr. _Man-with-all-the-questions_ , let me ask you this." Beetee inquires not thirty seconds after Hawthorne leaves. I look up from my work and fix my eyes on him. When he sees he has my attention he continues.

"Reaping's supposed to be random, right?"

"Right."

"What if it's not? What if it's rigged?"

"Rigged?" I ask, what on earth is he on about. Beetee shushes me, then proceeds to take a sheet of paper out and unfold it, then turn it around so it is the right way up and he can also make sense of it, although I can't make head nor tail of the scribbles adorning the page.

"I have been working on this." He says pointing to the page. "Here. Take a look at that."

I take the sheet of him and begin to read through the math he was working on.

"It charts the last 23 people that won a spot on the island. Excluding of course the women, picked for breeders."

"What is this?"

"I took the first letter in each name. I assigned it a point value system, based on the alphabet, like the last guy, Thresh, T equals 19, _S_ , S equals 19, T equals 20. Do you see what I'm saying?"

I think he lost me at point, "No." He gets a bit huffy and frustrated with me and there is a bit of edge to his voice.

"Well maybe if you would listen to me, I'm trying to tell you. You string the numbers together. You divide by the amount...you multiply...you divide...you divide it by the amount of people which is a thousand plus five. You know what it spells?" 

He pauses for effect, but I seriously don't know what he is bubbling about.

"B-E-E-T-E-E. I'm winning the reaping tonight!" He says excitedly.

 _Oh!_ I think. "Did you pack?" 

He stumbles before a look of shock crosses his face as he realises that he hasn't got ready to leave. "No." A few seconds later something catches his eye and he looks over my shoulder. I follow his gaze and see Hawthorne standing behind the Censor and the new guy. He bends down on one knee on the higher walkway behind them and starts to flick the new guys ear.

"Straight down in the hole. That's it straight down, now you try. Straight down, no, no, no, leave that alone." The censor is still having a time of it teaching the recently found survivor how to use the insertion gun. When Hawthorne flicks the mans ear, the new guy brings his hand up and slaps it, momentarily startling himself as to what happened. When the censor looks around he tells Hawthorne to get back to work. Hawthorne tries to make some excuse that there was something on the ear, but the censor is having none of it and points to the work stations, where Hawthorne, defeated, promptly starts towards.

We begin to chuckle at him, when there is a crash in the boxed off area that Everdeen works in. Looking over, one of the women has fallen to the floor and is clutching her stomach. I've seen this happen a few times with the pregnant women and it means that they are going to have their baby. I briefly wonder what a baby looks like as there never seems to be children in the facility, they must be brought to either a different section or straight to the Capitol, because as soon as these women have their children they get to go to the Capitol too. Everdeen rushes over to the woman's side to offer her help.

"Clove! Are you ok?"

A censor comes over as well and directs the others to move back out of the room, then goes to a communicator on the wall and calls for med-techs and a wheelchair for the woman.

"I think it's time." Cloves says to Everdeen.

"You're going to the Capitol," she replies. "Oh you are so lucky"

Everdeen is smiling broadly as everyone watches the men help Clove into the wheelchair. The med-techs push her out and a clean-up crew come in to clear the liquids that spilled when the bottles shattered after Clove dropped them. 

"That's fair." Beetee says, reminding me that he thought he was the next to go to the Capitol. "That's real fair. That is so not fair. Oh man, I hate this jealousy thing. It's giving me heart palpitations."

Looking around at the scene, I know instantly that this is the chance I've been looking for, to get out of work for a while. I know that with the clean up in progress and the other people in the room still not yet fully back to their work, the censors will not want to have to deal with another computer problem, that I might be able to deal with myself, so slipping my hand to the side of the monitor I pull a small chip out of a terminal and lift the communicator beside the screen for added effect.

"Tech services? Hello?" I ask even though I know that it won't work with the chip out.

"Computer's down again." I say when Beetee looks at me and then I get up and make my way over to a hassled looking censor.

"I'm down." I say. The censor lets out a huff of frustration and as he takes off the chain necklace they all have to wear, to give to me, he says.

"Computer guy is in sector six. I have to deal with this mess. Take my tri-key."

I take the key that will let me into practically anywhere in the district.

"Hurry back. And don't forget the contamination kit." He says as an after thought.

I hurry out of the room and jog along the corridors until I come to a store room that houses the kits. Picking one up and putting on the yellow suit and breathing mask, I head back out into the corridor and along to a door which is rarely used. Beside the door is a slot, which I insert the tri-key into and the airlock hisses when it is opened. A couple of men that had been sitting on a bench in the quite area, near the door move away, as they don't want to run the risk of being contaminated with the toxins, that may be able to leak in. Sector six is an area that is not as well protected as the section where the survivors stay and the people that work here are part of Dr. Coin's staff and therefore will never get the chance to go to the Capitol. They don't stay in the sector though, they stay in sector five. As I make my way along gantry, after gantry and past workers who only give me a cursory look, I think about how different it is to my area. This section seems like another world entirely. Whilst I am used to everything being sleek, clean and sterilised, here it is grimy, dark and chaotic. Leads and cables and tubes and metal all amalgamated, into an impossible puzzle of ducts and walkways, that could lead you anywhere, but having been here a few times before, I actually know where I'm going and can find my way quite well, having formed landmarks out of certain parts of the 'puzzle'.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Someone calls to me, over the noise of workmen moving huge cylinders, which I can only assume are for repairing the ducts. As I look over towards the worker I catch a glimpse of the man I have come to see.

"I'm gonna' see this guy." I say pointing to the computer technician.

"Hey, Boy," he calls me, "we got live wires all over the place here." He says moving his arms in a circular fashion, to indicate the whole area.

Coming over to him he begins to lead me away to where his work station is.

"I've been looking all over for you." I tell him

"What?" He says with his hand to his ear. I hate talking with the mask on because it muffles my voice and makes it harder for others to hear me.

"I've been looking all..."

"Can't hear you?" He interrupts with a smirk. Finally having had enough of the mask, I take it of all together, and the smell of smoke and grease fills my nostrils.

"I've been looking all over you." I finally get out, clearly, without the mask.

He gives me a look.

"If you go and get yourself contaminated don't come pointing the finger at me." He says with a knowing smile.

"How you doing, Mitch?" I ask. His full name is Haymitch, but he told me to call him Mitch the first time I met him.

"What are you doing here?"

"My chip fried again." I tell him with a gleeful smile at my deception.

"Yeah? How much longer do you think that'll work? What are you two clowns looking at?" He calls to a couple of men who are standing watching us talk.

"Hey you got any of that stuff on you today?" Mitch always seems to have a particularly distinctive drink, which I have never had before, but it is addictive and anytime I can I ask him for some. He lifts his arm and looks at his bare wrist.

"Oh looks, it's break time. Come on."

"You're a bad influence on me." I joke.

"Must be why I like you so much."

We walk the rest of the way in silence. His service area is high up on one if the gantries, overlooking a section of piping that shows the red and white tubes,we feed the nutrients into, going into a hub, which then goes through the wall, into what must be the section where they grow the food. He gets a metal flask out of a locker and gets a clear tumbler, then begins to pour some of the amber liquid, into the glass. I take the glass and walk back and lean on the railing overlooking the pipes. It hits me again how different our two worlds really are and then I start to wonder, if this is maybe what he is used to, in sector five.

"What's it like where you live? In sector five?"

"It's fine, you know? It's like any other sector, I guess."

"I like coming out here, talking. Most supervisors and censors don't like to talk."

"Yeah." He sighs.

I walk over to the back wall and look at some of the photos he has there. They are on a light glossy paper and, as far as I can see, they are all women.

"Are these your friends?" I ask.

"Meh, sometimes."

"Where are their clothes?" They don't really have much on except for their under garments. Mitch doesn't reply to that, so I walk back over towards the chair he is sitting in and sit on the arm of another one opposite.

"Hey what's with Dr. Coin."

"Oh it's the same thing that happens to all doctors. They think they know everything."

A static sound comes over a communicator that Mitch has left sitting on the table. He calls it a radio and apparently it is different to the communicators we use in work. He says they are from an earlier time years and years before the catastrophe.

"Tech services requested, in product extraction."

"Yeah I'll be right there." Answers Mitch.

He sets his glass back and I give him mine as well.

"Where do you get that stuff anyway?" I ask

"It's from an old stash, you know...from before."

"You mean, from before the contamination?"

"Yeah," he says "come on, you're killing me with the questions here. You got a sweet deal here you know? Because you're, you know, like...special."

I am fed up with hearing that I have a great life here, because that's just, not how I feel.

"Why? Why am I special?"

"There's another question. Look...you remember what we talked about, right? You don't tell anybody about our conversations? 'Cause that can get me in big trouble."

"No, I don't." I say shaking my head.

"Good". He says and then leaves, knowing that I know my way back.

After he has left, I stay for a little while longer, delaying my return to work, but as I start to leave, something catches my eye and distracts me. I find a flashlight from Mitch's desk and follow a fluttering in the distance. It leads me to a set of yellow, industrial stairs and it lands on the railing a little way above me. I go up a couple of steps and come face to face with a bug. A bug with wings. How did a bug get into the facility. They are supposed to be mostly dead and even if this one did survive there are supposed to be filters to keep them out of the district, so that they don't bring any contamination in with them. I go back to Mitch's desk and find a little box, that holds matches and tip them out. I then go back to the stairs and the flying bug is still there. It most be tired or resting. It flutters slightly as I lift my hand to it, but I am too quick for it and I get it into the box and slide the lid back on. Now I just have to get back to my room without anyone seeing me.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again I want to warn you that this chapter is quite graphic and therefore you may not want to read it, but it is needed for the story.
> 
> This is sort of a filler chapter and therefore a shorter one too. I couldn't really go from this to a happier scene between Mellark and Everdeen so I cut it sort.
> 
> Please leave a comment to let me know what you think and you can follow me on tumblr at ffeverlarkfeels.

_**Haymitch** _

It's not that I don't like the lad, because I do, it's just that the boy is always asking questions, and they may seem innocent enough to him, but where we are they are the most dangerous questions that can be asked, and if I answer them the way I really should, it could, no it would, most definitely get us both in trouble. Trouble which I couldn't even begin to imagine.

I really wish I could tell him, but he's safer not knowing what lies in his future. I try to tell myself that before anything happens to the tributes, at least they have a chance to make some friends and they get fed and looked after. Not that I know everything that goes on in their sector, but at least they're not scraping by, trying to make a living.

As I make my way to the extraction sector I realise that the boy seems different to any of the other tributes I have met. The others, and though there have been only a couple, were terrified of any other sector than there own, afraid to be contaminated or lost from their pathogen free zone, but when Mellark saw the rest of the workers, without any masks on, he took his off without any complaint, and he has always been willing to try anything. Like the liquor, for example. 

Pushing the trolley, with all my tools of the trade, through the door, I come to a room that is very clinical and dark, except for three sets of lights. The first set is to one side of the room, where the computer consoles are, and where I make my way over to. The second set is a strip of bright white LEDs along the top of the walls, all the way around the room and the third is a movable hanging light set with four large bulbs, that can be positioned wherever the extraction team needs it.

In most ways I love my job and in some I hate it. It suits me. I will admit that I am a bit of a loner and being the only tech guy in this quadrant is fine with me. The job isn't too taxing, as most of the equipment is perfectly fine, most of the time, but there is occasion, like this, that is packs up and decides to be stubborn.

There is an extraction team in the room when I start to look for whatever problem they called me up here for, but when I'm kneeling down behind the desk I see exactly what they're going to do. I have never seen this before, but I've heard about it and it is not something I want to witness. I try to tell them to wait until I've finished with my work, but they either don't hear me or, more likely, don't care.

An oval shaped, metal pallet about eight inches deep and three by four feet wide, attached to a hydraulic lifting arm, is being moved into the middle of the room and one of the team is moving the light into a better position to begin work. 

The team are all wearing suits that would be seen in an abattoir, with thick, black, plastic, gloves and boots, and their coveralls are plastic as well, so that the fluids can run down onto the ground. 

The pallet has a clear, plastic pouch with two mechanical tubes running into it. One in the middle and one at the top end. Looking into the pouch, you can clearly see a hand and arm attached to a body. This is the product, and the product is a person. An adult. Actually grown in these pouches like a baby grown in its mother's womb. 

Two of the men working around the pallet have bolt cutters, and when told, one severs the middle tube, which is the umbilical that houses the tubes for water and blood. Two sets of liquids flow out of the tubes. One clear, one red and from what I'm told these are connected to the sectors where the tributes work, and where they feed the nutrients into these tubes so the bodies inside the pouches survive.

The other man uses his bolt cutters on the tube at the top and disconnects the oxygen that was being pumped into the products lungs. He then takes a knife a sticks it into the pouch, slicing the side and walks along as it opens a gash in the pouch. The fluids flow out and down onto the floor. He then peels back the plastic of the pouch and takes a smaller tube set out of the product's nose and mouth. This is where the oxygen entered and I can now see that the product is a man, seeming to be in his fifties. It is so odd that this man has just been _'born'_ and yet is old enough to have children himself.

Once they get the man breathing and settled they begin to dry him and put a foil blanket over him to keep his body temperature stable. During all this time I couldn't look away. I was mesmerised by the act of birthing a full sized human. I try to get back to my work, as I want out of this sector as soon as possible. When the doctor comes in to check on the product, the man is lying on his side and sucking his thumb, like a baby, and from what I have heard, they basically are. He declares him fine and healthy and tells the team to tag him and ship him to foundation. Before I finish my work and get out of the room, I see one of the men with a machine in his hand walk over to the product and take his left wrist. Placing the machine on the inside of the wrist it lights up for a second and when he moves it away, there is a mark, like a brand on a cow, on the wrist. Then another tech comes over and puts a wristband over the brand before leaving the man be for a while.

They have moved him to a regular gurney and as they remove the pallet back through the open wall, I take a chance and follow it, just to see where it is going. The open wall leads to a large circular room, several floors high, and at the bottom there are about thirty more pouches, with bodies that are in different stages of growth. Some are nearly ready to be extracted, whilst others seem to be only blood vessels and bones. It is amazing and at the same time terrifying and, having finally got the computer unfrozen, I make my escape from the terror of _that_ room.

Boy do I need a drink.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off I would like to wish all of you a Merry Christmas. I hope you all had a lovely day and got what you wanted from the big man in the red coat and fur. I might be able to get the next chapter up earlier than usual, but I'm not sure so I'll wish you a Happy New Year now just in case.
> 
> There is one refernece to the books that I couldn't get right, and I tried to look it up, but I couldn't find it. It's about the leaves that Rue used on Katniss' tracker jacker stings, to get the poison out. I couldn't find a name for them and since she uses them to get toxins out of the skin, it seemed like a good use for the drink that Everdeen orders. So in the end I just called them jacker leaves.
> 
> If anyone knows what the leaf is called please let me know and I can update the chapter to include the correct name.
> 
> Once again I hope you enjoy the chapter and please send me a comment at the end. If you haven't watched The Island, I would be interested in finding out if you have an idea where this might be going. And hey, you never know, some of your ideas may end up in the story, as I have a few of my own plot lines to work in to make it more compatible with The Hunger Games aspect of the story.
> 
> I'm at ffeverlarkfeels on Tumblr if you want to say hi.

_**Mellark 7 Alpha** _

The two opponents square off, staring at each other, anticipating their moves. They come together and both try to topple the other and get the upper hand. Grappling with her rival she finds a moment to get her right foot behind her opponents left leg and trips him, pinning him to the ground with her quick actions. On opposite sides of the ring Mellark and Everdeen stand behind their clear screens watching their simulations wrestle. They are wearing special gloves that mimic their moves and also, select various choices from the grid on the screens in front of them. Mellark's simulation gets up and the first round goes to Everdeen. He crouches over and his simulation does the same, then he stands upright and moves his arms forward. The simulation moves forward and begins to grapple with Everdeen's simulation. This time he tries to use her momentum against her, but she is too quick and whilst he is crouching his simulation down again, to grab her legs, she selects the bottom right corner of her screen and, instead of falling over Mellark's simulation she twists, grabs onto him around his waist and, using her momentum to her advantage, pulls him to lay on top of her, pinning him once again, this time with his back to her chest. Having lost the battle Mellark gives up and with his head held low walks away to his friends.

"Maybe next time I won't embarrass you in front of your friends!" She says as she comes round from her side of the simulator.

All Mellark can do is roll his eyes with a smirk on his face. Beetee and Hawthorne come over to him as they make their way to the sofas in the gathering room.

"That was very sad, my friend" Hawthorne says.

"Yeah, yeah" Mellark says and waltzes off to where Everdeen is waiting for a server at the counter. When he arrives Snow, who had been facing the other direction, and Mellark hadn't seen, turns to him and sniggers. 

"So you just let a little girl beat you, huh?" 

Mellark ignores him and when the server comes over, he looks at him to be served.

"Stim units restricted" the server says. _Of course they're restricted! Everything is flipping restricted for me!_. Thinks Mellark. 

"Yeah, yeah, I'll just have the veggie stuff" he replies.

"Jacker leaf juice please" says Everdeen, when the server looks to her. Mellark scrunches his eyebrows together and looks at her, as if to say _What!?_. When Everdeen sees this she explains "it's good for the skin". Mellark just shakes his head and when the drinks have been delivered, takes his glass and follows Everdeen to a seat.

After a few minutes, during which they get settled and take a few sips of their drinks, Mellark takes a deep breath and turns to his best friend.

"Everdeen, are you sick?"

She raises an eyebrow and Mellark continues. "When I was in Dr. Coin's office, I thought I saw your name on a file."

"No, I'm fine"

"Ok" Mellark replies dejectedly. Not that, that wasn't good news, but he has had an ominous feeling ever since he left Coin's office, and it wasn't solely to do with the way she treated him, when she was giving him the tracker jackers.

"How are you?" Everdeen asks before he can think any further about it.

"I'm fine." He says automatically, with a small smile.

"Mellark," she sighs, "I can tell when you're lying, 'cause your month smiles but your eyes don't." He gives a real smile then. She was the only one who could call him out like that and it endeared her to him even more.

Fidgeting slightly, he leant closer to her and began to whisper.

"I found something."

"What?"

"A bug."

"A bug!?"

"A flying bug."

"Can I see it?"

"I think it came in the ventilation shafts" he reasoned.

"I thought they went extinct, with the contamination." Everdeen couldn't really believe what Mellark was telling her.

"I know. And how did it get by the pathogen sensors?"

"It must be too small..."

"No, it's not too small. How did it survive out there anyway? How does anyone survive? They keep finding people, but where do they come from?" Mellark says with some frustration.

"It's good that they find survivors. Why do you always question the good? You only think about the bad." Everdeen asks indignantly.

"I'm sorry, Everdeen, I didn't mean to get angry, I just...it's just...something feels wrong and...I don't want to be a piece in anyone's game."

Everdeen gives a sad smile.

"Alright," she says placated, "but good things do happen, you know." She gets up to move over to some of her girl friends at another set of sofas, but before she leaves she makes a point to Mellark. "I wanna see that bug."

As she moves away Beetee and Hawthorne return from getting their own drinks, and sit down with Mellark, to continue their chat about his losing to Everdeen in their wrestling match; however as soon as they sit down, the screens, which had been showing psychedelic like video animation, began to show the start of the reaping. Everyone still standing, rush to find a seat and get comfortable to hear who has won, as Effie Trinket greats the district.

"Good evening. Welcome to the Reaping. It's been a busy week, we've had a record two wins so far. Tonight's winner will be selected at random for relocation to The Capitol, transported to the world's last paradise. And now let the choosing begin."

The photos of many of the citizens of District 13 start to flicker past and then begin to slow, getting slower and slower until they finally stop. When they do I can't believe my eyes. I search for Everdeen and when I find her she is staring at the screen and standing up slowly from her place. The world slows down as people start to give their congratulations, but I don't hear them as they fade away. This can't be real. That ominous feeling comes back again, but now this reaping has changed things and I can't let it get the better of me at the moment. I have to be strong and be happy. For her at least. I don't know how long it'll be before I see her again.

"Everdeen 1 Lima! You're time has come. You're moving out to The Capitol. For everyone else, may the odds be ever in your favour." With that Effie Trinket disappears and the screens return to the colourful movements from before. Before the world seemed to be turned on its head.

I make my way over to Everdeen, as the people mingling around her begin to move away. I take her arms in my hands. It's the closest we have ever been to one another and she does the same, holding my elbows, lightly.

"I have to go in the morning" she says.

"You were right," I say with a small smile, "good things do happen."

We pause as we regard each other waiting for the moment we know we will have to separate and knowing that I will not be the one to let go first.

"I wish I'd know you better," she says and I am about to respond when one of the peacekeepers comes toward us.

"Watch your proximity," is all he says as he nods his head at our arms. We both nod and, regretfully, let go.

"I'll see you on The Capitol" she says and with that I turn and walk away. She had turned around as more people came over to congratulate her. She knows that I may be able to see her tomorrow, before she leaves, but if not then we have already said our goodbyes tonight. I can't watch her as she basically says farewell to her life here, knowing that I won't be able to see her again for an undetermined amount of time. I could be reaped in a week, or I could be here another four years like Hawthorne, and I can't bear it, so I head for my room to wallow in private.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A very happy new year to all of you. I hope that you and your family will have a blessed year.
> 
> A little warning that there are some graphic scenes in this chapter.
> 
> I hope you enjoy it though and there are more mysteries revealed. And also some more questions to be asked.
> 
> Please leave me a comment and you can follow me on tumblr at ffeverlarkfeels.

_**Mellark 7 Alpha** _

_'You've been chosen! You want to go to The Capitol!'_ The sky is clear blue and the sea is once again lapping at the side of the boat, but this time I know the sound was anything, but water. It was a definite thud. I look around and there she is. The girl from my dreams and I still can't make her out. Her dress is a dark, burnt orange and contrasts well with the sky and ocean beyond. Reams of the same material as her dress float behind her in the wind and I can finally see something more of her. Her hair. It's dark and smooth and I want to reach out and run my fingers through the tendrils, blowing in the wind. The glimpses I get, as the moving air manipulates the material, are so tantalising, I begin to move towards her, but each step is like quicksand, pulling me down. I look to my feet, to see what is wrong and hands are holding me back. They begin to pull me down through the deck. _'You're special!'_ the voice says again as the hands continue to pull at me.

I wake with a slight sheen of sweat on my brow. I didn't change into my sleep clothes, when I came in earlier. I was too despondent. I turn to my side and look over at the upturned vase on the bedside table, that I put the flying bug in, when I was able to get it back to my room earlier. It's trapped in there, fluttering, looking out, but not able to go anywhere and suddenly I can relate. I am looking out everyday at The Capitol, moving about from breakfast to work to dinner to bed and I can't go anywhere either. I'm stuck here. Trapped. Not able to move about freely and feeling like I'm being pulled down, or stifled. I feel like I'm suffocating, with not enough air to fill my lungs and an unexpected thought fills my mind. I know that even if I can't leave, that bug can, and I shouldn't keep it from its freedom. Wether it wants to go back out to the contaminated world or not. That is, if there is a contamination, which, now that I've seen this bug, I am having serious doubts about.

I take the match box, which is sitting beside the vase, and turn the vase around so the bug can get out. Making sure, of course, that the match box is covering the top so I can capture the bug. Having securely caught it, I leave my room and as silently as possible, meander through the halls and plazas of the district. The peacekeepers on there nightly patrols are sparse, but I still have to stop and hide behind the odd grey column a couple of times.

I never gave the tri key back to the censor, as I was too late to go back to my work, so I use it again to access sector six. To be honest, after I found the bug, I didn't really want to give it back anyway. I wanted to keep it so I could explore some more and perhaps find some answers to my questions.

I return to the steps where I found the bug, and sliding the lid back, let it go. It takes a moment before it leaves the box. I watch it fly up and up towards a ladder which seems to be connected to most of the levels of the facility. I start to reason that if I followed the bug, I might be able to see where it came in, and therefore I might be able to see for myself the outside world. To breathe for myself the outside air, and finally get some answers about the contamination. So I decide to follow the bug as it travels to the top of the district. It keeps flying and I keep following up the ladder. Past vents and air ducts. Gantries and more tubes and as I travel I start to fall behind. Having wings the bug can travel much faster than I can. I stop at a level which I can't discern, as there are no markings. I think I must have came up about nine floors at least. I finally see something fluttering near a duct and follow it, however to my disappointment it isn't the bug, but a piece of black plastic, caught on one of the screws holding the duct to the ceiling of this level.

Noises travel down this duct, like footsteps. Intrigued, I find a crate and bring it over so I can reach the duct. I pull myself up and in and crawl along until I can hear the footsteps more clearly. It sounds like they are moving around a room. Back and forth, from one spot to another and back again. I can also hear a sound like water, dripping from a height and being brushed away, across the floor. I decide to move forward again, to get past this area. A few feet later and the duct opens out into a wider space about the size of a hallway, but the height is still the same. The top however is not a duct anymore but a grid of metal bars and rivets. Each one with a square of metal sitting on top, like a tile.

I push one of the tiles and it rises. Stopping I look around and can see that it is in fact a hallway. This one is white and blindingly bright, after the time I have just spent in the duct. A door to the right of me and about eight feet away, slides open with a whoosh. Two men walk in, wearing navy coveralls and utility belts. The lead man is carrying a red and white case and they head forward toward the end of the corridor, before taking a left. A sign hanging from the ceiling says that they have turned to a nurses station.

I must have come out in the medical sector. Checking that no one is coming I get out of the duct and into the hallway. Setting the tile back so it is still sitting up slightly, making sure I can find my way back to the duct, I move in the opposite direction of the nurses station. Someone comes out of a room further down the hallway and I rush to a store room door. It isn't locked and I open it and go inside. The person wasn't coming my way, but they had a blue coat on them, and when I see that there are some in this store room I take one, so that I can blend in.

Going back out into the corridor, I continue down the stark, white hall. When I come to the last two doors before the corner, I can hear grunting and yelling in the room closest to me. There is some talking as well, but the shouts cover most of what is being said. A sharp, shrill wailing then punctures the air. I have never heard anything like this before and the incessant sound becomes more like crying. It begins to quite down and I chance a look in the next room. When I open the door I can see it is another storeroom, this one with shelves full of vials and tubes like those we use to for the nutrients at work, but at the wall closest to the room where the noises were coming from, is a window. 

I move over and, whilst standing to one side, so the occupants of the next room can't see me, I look through the window. There is a nurse standing close to the window, but looking toward someone further in. She is holding something in her arms, but at this angle I can't see anything other than the pink blanket that it's wrapped in. There is also a doctor standing at a cabinet and filling an injection. But what grabs my attention the most is the woman sitting in the medical chair, the same kind as in Dr. Coin's office, with her legs held up in metal bars, her hair mussed and her face flushed and sweaty from laborious work.

Clove lies exhausted on the chair with her arms by her side and a pale green item like a blanket with sleeves, draped over her.

"She's so beautiful, I've never seen a baby before." Clove says.

_Oh wow! So the nurse is holding Clove's baby!_

"Can I hold her?" She asks

"Not just yet" the nurse says. She brings the baby over to a small clear box on wheels that must be a bed for the baby. She comes back to Clove and begins to put straps over her ankles. I remember when Dr. Coin did this to me and I don't know if I want to see what is going to happen as I have a really bad feeling. The doctor comes over with the syringe and inserts it into a tube which leads to the back of Clove's hand. The green fluid flows through the tube and after a few moments Clove begins to shake. Tremors rush through her arms and body and her feet begin to jerk in the metal cradles that hold her legs. The nurse holds her feet until she stills. The doctor then places a blanket over her and pulls it over her head. The nurse goes over and pushes the baby in her bed out of the room and Clove is left alone.

I can't move. This can't have just happened. Have I just seen someone die? Actually no! I have seen someone killed. Murdered! I rush out of the observation area and into Clove's room. I stop just inside the door and slowly walk over to the chair. Clove is still the same way she was when I watched from the window. I lift the blanket from her head and she doesn't move. I stare at her for a few moments, before replacing the blanket. I need to get out of here.

Footsteps echo down the corridor, getting closer to my room and I look out through the crack in the doors. The nurse that had been with Clove only moments ago, leads a couple towards a room just opposite the one I am in. The woman is linking the mans arm and when the nurse moves away from in front of her, my breath catches in my throat. It's Clove, but it's not. I look back to the chair and Clove's body is still there. When the nurse and the couple have gone inside the room I make my way to the door. There is a small glass window in this room and the door is slightly ajar so I can hear everything that is being said.

"Congratulations, Mr & Mrs Clove, its a beautiful girl." The nurse says.

"Oh my gosh," the woman gasps. She moves over to the bed and lifts the baby up into her arms. Her husband comes up behind her and puts one arm around her waist and the other to the baby's forehead, drawing his thumb gently across the damp, dark curls.

"Look at her, she's beautiful."

"Whenever you're ready we have copies of the policy termination for your records." The nurse says and after a quick nod from the couple, she turns and I race down the corridor and around the corner away from her sight.

This is too much I need to get back to my sector, before I'm found. I start to head back to the entrance that I came in through and suddenly there are two peacekeepers coming running behind me. I am about to start running, when another two come from a corridor further ahead and turn to go the same way I am going. I stop when I realise that they aren't looking for me. The two behind me then pass and follow the other group ahead. There is a wheelchair and trolley sitting to the left of the hall ahead of me and I wait behind it before moving any further. Shouts and yells come from ahead, around the corner. One of the peacekeepers has stopped at the end of the hall and suddenly a man comes rushing around the corner and barrels straight into the peacekeeper, sending him through a window behind him.

The man has tubes and wires hanging from him and has only his boxers on him.

"Stop that man! Get him!" Comes more shouts. Once again my breath is taken from me. Thresh is running down the corridor towards me with a gaping whole from his navel to the middle of his chest. Blood trickling down his legs. The peacekeepers are back at the corner and have taken aim. They shoot into Thresh's legs and tiny grappling hooks lodge beneath the skin, tripping him and he tumbles to the floor just past me. I take the chance to hide between the wheelchair and the trolley and I pull a towel off the trolley to cover my wristband.

They begin to drag him back and another Peacekeeper comes up to make sure that he stays down on the ground.

"Don't damage him!" Shouts a doctor.

"NNOOOO! I don't wanna die." Thresh wails, as he is drawn back to wherever he came from. "You promised. I wanna live. I don't wanna die. You promised I would go to The Capitol! NNOOOO!"

He is pulled back and when they have him under control, they lead him away. I can still hear him wailing and trying to fight to get out, when the peacekeeper that he knocked through the window comes down to me. Now I know that I have been caught.

"Hey buddy, you ok?" I just stare at him before quickly nodding. He holds out his hand, to help me up and I take it. "It's not the first time this has happened, you know." He tells me. I nod again and begin to walk away, trying hard to keep myself from running. "Command, product is secure," the peacekeeper says into the radio. 

I have to get out of here. When everyone turns another corner I sprint down the rest of the corridor away from them and get back into the duct that led me here.

Racing through sector six, back to my quarters, I try to get my heart to slow down. I try to get the visions of Clove and Thresh out of my head, but I can't. They won the reaping, so they should be on The Capitol, but they're not, they're still here. No that's not right either. Clove is dead and Thresh may as well be. But they should have been safe and happy, I mean they won the reaping after all.

Oh no! 

The reaping. 

EVERDEEN!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I am finally back after about 7 months and I want to apologise for the extremely long delay.
> 
> I hope to start updating this every week again and if I don't please feel free to give me a digital kick up the behind to get me going again.
> 
> I have at least some good news from my impromptu hiatus. I have a new story which is a Hunger Games AU, but is also my own idea too and I have been getting things ready and started for that, but I'm not sure when I will begin to post it, but I'll keep you informed.
> 
> I really hope that you like this chapter. As I have mentioned it is slightly different style to what I usually write, so any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks for sticking with this story and enjoy.

_**Everdeen 1 Lima** _

We run around a corner and come to a stop when we see another peacekeeper coming for us. Mellark ducts under a pipe and the peacekeeper goes after him trying to catch Mellark's ankles. He misses and Mellark rises on the other side. The peacekeeper follows him, but Mellark has vaulted back over the pipe to my side again, but this peacekeeper is quicker than the others and anticipated the action. He joins us and grabs Mellark in a head lock, whilst using his knee to attack his stomach. 

I try to grab a hold of the peacekeeper and pull him off Mellark, but he just kicks me away. Falling back and wondering how we can make another escape I see a bar with a long, grimy chain attached, hanging on a hook on the wall. I get up as quick as I can and grab it down. Mellark has gotten out of the choke hold and is trying to wrestle the peacekeeper to the ground, but the peacekeeper delivers a swift punch to the gut and Mellark goes down.

He has obviously forgotten about me and taking my chance I get in position and swing the chain right at his face. As I am to the side of him the chain wraps around the peacekeepers head and stuns him enough that we can get away. We run further down the corridor, past more ducts and pipes and find an elevator. Using the tri key that Mellark has we get into the metal box and I frantically keep pushing the close door button, before the peacekeeper can get in as well.

Finally the doors close and we are safe for the moment. We catch our breaths, heaving from all the oxygen we are trying to pull into our system.

"Still think there's a Capitol?" Mellark asks, and, after all that has happened, I can't deny anymore, that something is definitely wrong.

 

_TWO HOURS EARLIER ___

___**Dr. Coin** _ _ _

__I make my way to the SCC (Security and Control Centre). There is always something that I am needed here for. As I get closer to the security area, I can here laughter. I briefly wonder would they be laughing if they were to receive their last paycheques. They are all huddled around one of the many computer screens, re-watching the feed in which one of them seems to get knocked through a window._ _

__"Oooohhh. And down for the count."_ _

__"Gentlemen!" That pulls them up short as one of them scoots past me on his wheeled office chair, "I believe there was an incident?"_ _

__"Yes Ma'am,"answers the head peacekeeper, Cray, I think his name is. To be honest I don't really care that much. "Thresh ran from the operating table, whilst the surgeons were attempting the removal of his liver, for transport."_ _

__I look down to the others sitting around._ _

__"And you find this funny?"_ _

__A chorus of no' s and no ma'am's ring out._ _

__"Play it back." I ask sharply. They begin to rewind the footage and play it through from the start again. I see Thresh 3 Bravo running out the door. It is obvious that they had began to operate on him and he must have woken early from the anaesthetic. He runs and then he is brought down._ _

__"Stop! Rewind it." They rewind it back slightly. "Stop there...who is that?"_ _

__"It was just an RN ma'am. He was scared and I helped him up."_ _

__Something about him is so familiar._ _

__"Zoom in on his wrist."_ _

__They zoom in and all I can see is red. Through a gap in, what must be a towel there is a wristband._ _

__"We have a product on the loose. Find him!"_ _

__I am livid as I stalk away back to my office to begin damage control. He must be dealt with. As I enter my office I am just in time for the communicator to alert a message on the screen. One name is shown and I should have known all along it was him._ _

__Mellark!_ _

___**Everdeen 1 Lima** _ _ _

__I wake to a beautiful sun rise over the ocean. As I sit up the screen to my left greets me and then changes and I can here a beep to draw my attention._ _

__'Departure to the Capitol scheduled for 9.00am. Please make sure you have your belongings stored in the bag provided.'_ _

__I can't believe I had forgotten that I was reaped last night. _'I'm going to the Capitol'_ I think. 9.00 am only gives me two hours to get ready and I so wish I could see Mellark one last time, but I know it would be too hard for both of us. I just hope that he will be reaped soon as well so we can meet on the Capitol. I rise from bed and begin my morning routine. After I'm washed and dressed I start to take all my clothes and items from the drawers and stow them away in the bag which was left in my room last night._ _

__An incessant knocking at the door has me nearly jumping out of my skin. I check the clock and see that I still have about twenty five minutes before I have to leave for the Capitol, so I don't know who this could be. Going to the door, the knocking continues. Whoever it is, is really, really wanting to talk to me. Opening the door I have a wonderful surprise, as Mellark is there._ _

__"Oh wow this is such an amazing sup..."_ _

__"Everdeen, you have to come with me."_ _

__"Wha...?" He grabs my hand and starts to pull me along the corridors towards the elevator. I try to protest, but he is too strong and keeps going. The women making their way down to breakfast, scatter as Mellark shouts for them to move. I finally get a chance to hold back at some point. "Mellark, stop. What are you doing? Men aren't supposed to be in this section..."_ _

__"Listen you gotta trust me alright..." He says as he turns back to me. We are in a small area that could be considered an alcove._ _

__"What are you talkin..."_ _

__"I saw them!"_ _

__What is he talking about? "Who?"_ _

__"Clove and Thresh, they're dead!"_ _

__"WHAT!!" I shriek._ _

__"Yeah they killed her and they cut him open and you could see..."_ _

__He starts to make gestures with his hands at how they had cut Thresh open in his chest, and I can't take it anymore. "Shut up! Shut up! I want to go back to my room."_ _

__"But you can't, don't you see? I think they're gonna kill you too."_ _

__"No...I'm going to the Capitol!"_ _

__"Everdeen, there is no Capitol! Now come on."_ _

__With that he starts to pull me again. I look behind me towards what I believe is the safety of my room, but I know that this is Mellark and I have to trust him as he is my friend. He wouldn't hurt me, but something must have happened to him, because what he says can't be real. He can't have seen people being killed, when they were reaped to go to paradise. We keep running past other women and finally reach the elevator. He shoots in through the doors before anyone else can get in and brings me hurtling through the doors after him._ _

__"Just trust me."_ _

__We ride the rest of the way down in silence, trying to catch our breaths. I can't even think of any questions to ask as I am so confused by what has just happened. Just as the elevator is about to open its doors Effie Trinket comes on to make an announcement._ _

__"Attention! A Contamination Alert has been issued for Mellark 7 Alpha. Anyone coming in contact with him will be quarantined."_ _

__Before I can fully absorb exactly what the announcement meant, Mellark pulls me out the doors and begins to drag me behind him, whilst running through the nutrition plaza. Tributes are shoved out of the way as we push through the throngs of people going for breakfast. When they finally begin to notice who I am with they scuttle away so they won't be contaminated. All whilst I am being led through the sector, my mind is reeling. Has Mellark really been contaminated? Yeah, that has to be it otherwise how did he see those people who were reaped killed? It must have been a dream or hallucination brought about by his contamination, and now, I'm probably going to be affected too._ _

__At the top of one of the sets of stairs, Peacekeepers surround us, shouting out commands to freeze and they have something black and metal pointing at us. Mellark keeps spinning us around as he looks for an escape route, then pulls me towards the stairs and slides us done the slope to the side, bringing us nearly into a heap at the bottom, but since he knew what was going to happen he finds his feet and then catches me before I can fall to the ground._ _

__Then we are off running again as if there was no interruption. As I chance a look back towards the Peacekeepers, I see one of them has a green light shining from the metal bar and it pointing towards us. We keep running, but just before we round a corner there is an unfamiliar noise like a bee zooming past and then a bang and a cloud of dust from the concrete wall, bursts into our path. We don't stop to investigate, but speed up our escape to get away from whatever it is the Peacekeepers seem determined to do to us._ _

__I can hear glass breaking behind us and know that this will not be over any time soon. There are more Peacekeepers still following us and as we run I can see a sector door up ahead, but that means we have nowhere else to go. We'll be trapped, and the Peacekeepers are still coming._ _

__Just when I think that we have to stop Mellark pulls something out of his pocket that looks like a chain, but when he inserts it, with shaking hands, into a slot beside the door I realise that it's a tri key. I don't stop to ask how he got one, but continue through to sector six and I continue to stay at Mellarks heels, not wanting to face what might happen if the Peacekeepers catch me._ _

__I feel like I am in a maze, with some many gantries and tunnels and air ducts. We could take any route and end up somewhere completely different or somewhere we have already ran from. I don't know where we are, or where we're going and I find myself trusting Mellark once again. I can see Peacekeepers following us on levels below and we wind between girders and ladders, through smoke and puddles in an attempt to loose there trail._ _

__"There they are!!"_ _

__They suddenly appear on our level and Mellark grabs my hand to make sure he doesn't lose me in this metal jungle. The chase is really on now. We run past a section of cupboards and something is knocked over in our haste, but it leads to disposing the first Peacekeeper to follow us, as it was a can of little round metal balls which meant that he lost his footing, and at the speed he was going he slid right along the floor and hit his head on some piping that ran parallel to the floor, about two feet high. The only problem was we seemed to come to a caged end and we knew we would have to fight anyone else that follows._ _

__Mellark gets the next man by swinging around a bar attached to one of the grates of an air duct and hitting him at face level, which seems to leave one more in the immediate area. He comes around the duct to attack Mellark and takes him down with a punch, but Mellark scrambles to his feet._ _

__"NOOOO! Stop this!" I shout, but no one listens. The Peacekeeper is intent on doing Mellark harm. "Stop it!" I shout again, but it is futile. Mellark grabs a bar as he gets up and begins to defend against the onslaught of kicks and punches, but it doesn't work and the Peacekeeper has already done enough damage to wind Mellark. He goes down, but the Peacekeeper doesn't stop his attack. Having had enough of standing by doing nothing, I grab the large, heavy ranch that is sitting on top of a drum of oil and swing it right at the side of the Peacekeepers face. He goes down, completely stunned, and I rush to Mellarks side, helping him to stand and leading him away to another area of the sector._ _

__When we come to another dead end Mellark takes the grate off the top of a duct and we get in and begin to crawl along the metal tunnel. Vents line the way and let some light in so we can see where we are going, not that there are many options other than forward or back, but it helps a bit. There are strong gusts of wind through and around this duct and once we get a few more feet in it begins to shake. I can feel the base of tunnel shake too much and there is a jolt which halts us momentarily in our journey, before it gives way completely and we fall through the floor scrabbling to get a grip on the smooth surface of the tunnel we were in, before it is out of reach, but to no avail._ _

___**Mellark 7 Alpha**_ _ _

__Free falling through the air I come to a sudden stop as I hit the floor, which I find is covered in water. There is a metal grated walkway a few inches above the water and that means that this room is supposed to be flooded like this. Everdeen is a few feet away from me and as we stand, we hear what is being said in the room._ _

__"Your special!" "You have been chosen!"_ _

__"You have a very special purpose!"_ _

__I think this voice is familiar, but I can't place it. As we look around we can see that the room is filled with people in white body suits, lying on tables suspended from the ceiling and it is raining. They are all shaking slightly and are strapped to the tables so they won't fall off. A slightly curved glass screen is positioned over their open eyes and images are being shown on the surface._ _

__"You want to go to the Capitol!"_ _

__"You are part of a new beginning!"_ _

__The voice keeps repeating over and over and the images are being shown in very quick succession. As I look around trying to understand what exactly is going on, I realise that this voice and these images are also a part of my memory and when I look over to find Everdeen looking back, I can see in her eyes that she has somewhat of the same feeling. Is this what happened to us before we were brought to the compound?_ _

__A noise above us startles me and when I look up I see Peacekeepers sliding down the poles that the tables are suspended on. Our slight reprieve has come to an end and the chase is on again. I look back towards Everdeen and shout for her to run and we head to the opening at the opposite end of the room. We seem to get away before they have really seen us, but we know it is only a matter of time before they realise which way we have headed._ _

__We begin climbing stairs up and up until we come to a corridor with windows along one side. They are covered with a translucent material which only allows light through, but no views and follow it trying to find a door which will open and lead us into another part of the compound or even outside._ _

__I can see an elevator ahead, when Everdeen shouts to let me know there is a Peacekeeper behind me. Once again Everdeen gets the better of him and we make it to the elevator, and with it the hope of escape._ _

**Author's Note:**

> Hi and thanks for reading. This is my first ever try at writing a story of any kind since I had to for school. I never really liked English classes, but for the past couple of years I have wanted to try my hand at writing, so here it is.
> 
> Comments will be very welcome so I hope you enjoy.


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